Flushing apparatus for water closets.



PATENTIED PEB.'20, 1906.

W. U. GRIFFITHS. FLUSHING APPARATUS FOR WATER CLOSBTS.

APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 25, 1904.

HGI.

INV NTOR:

WITN ESSEfS:

-UNITED STATES PATENT OPTGE.

WILLIAM U. GRIFFITHS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLUSHING APPARATUS FOR WATER-CLOSETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1906.

Application filed November 25,1904. Serial No. 234,145.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM U. GRIF- FITHS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city of Philadelphia, in the county ofPhiladelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Flushing Apparatus for Water- Closets, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to the particular type of flushing apparatus inwhich a stationary siphon is located in the flush tank and which siphonis in communication with a flush pipe extending from the tank to thehopper of the water closet.

The object of my invention is to provide an improvement in the meanswhereby the valve which closes the port or opening leading from the tankinto the flush pipe may be readily controlled and opened.

In the accompanying drawings I have illus- I trated a good form of anembodiment of my invention. Many variations in construction andarrangement may, however, be employed without departing from the spiritof my invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,

Figure I is a top plan view of a flush tank and flushing apparatuscontained therein;

Figure II is a transverse section of the flush tank, and shows thesiphon structure in elevation.

In the drawings,

1 designates a flush tank which is provided with a flush pipe leadingtherefrom to the hopper of the water closet. The upper end only of theflush pipe is shown at 2. 3 designates a siphon which is secured in thetank, the said siphon being stationary, and being in communication withthe upper end of the flush pipe, as indicated at 4.

In order to prevent the disagreeable noise incident to the breaking ofthe siphon, I have provided a siphon breaking device which consists ofthe tube 5 arranged at the side of the open leg of the siphon andconnected to the same at its upper end, as indicated at 6, and to thelower end of the said pipe 5 a cup 7 is secured, the upper portion ofthe said cup being reduced, so that its internal diameter is butslightly greater than the external diameter of the tube or pipe 5 whichextends into and is secured to the bottom of the cup 7. The lower end ofthe pipe 5, within the cup 7, is provided with perforations, not shown.

. spect to each other.

8 designates a lever having two arms 9 and 10, which are angularlyarranged with re- The arm 9 extends up wardly to a point about the topof the tank, though the said arm may be made of greater or less length,as desired. The arm 10 of this lever lies in a nearly horizontalposition, though not necessarily so, and is pivoted at 11 to asupporting arm 12, which extends out from the lower end portion of thesiphon structure and is formed integral therewith.

It is to be understood, however, that, if desired, this arm may be madeseparately from the siphon structure and supported in any desirablemanner; for instance, it may be supported directly upon the side wallsor the bottom of the flush tank.

The arm 10 is extended beyond its pivot, as is clearly indicated in thedrawings, and is provided or formed with a weight 13 at its end, as isclearly indicated in each of the figures of the drawings.

15 designates a valve which is pivotally secured to the lever at thepoint of juncture between the two arms 9 and 10 of the lever. The valve15 is for the purpose of opening and closing the port of the flush tank,the port being provided for the usual purpose of permitting the water toescape from the flush tank to the water closet hopper. The upper end ofthe arm 9 of the valve carrying lever is provided with a cam projection16 for a .purpose which will be hereinafter set forth.

As illustrated, the cam projection 16 is formed by bending the arm 9,but, if desired, the arm 9 may extend straight to its end and the camprojection formed by securing to the said arm a separate piece ofmaterial, preferably metal.

20 designates a'lever which is pivoted at a point intermediate its endsupon the inner end of a bracket 21 secured upon a wall of the flushtank, as clearly shown in the drawings. The inner end of the lever 20 isprovided with a pivoted extension 22, and the said extension 22 isprovided with a roller 23.

It will be noted that by reason of the square abutting shouldersindicated at 24, the extension 22 cannot move downward from theposition. indicated in Figure II about its pivot. But by reason of thefact that the upper portion of the extension at its point of connectionwith the lever 20 is rounded, the said extension can move upward aboutits pivot with respect to the said lever 20.

25 designatesa rod connected to the outer end of the lever 20, the lowerend of said rod, though not shown, extends downward to some point whereit is adapted to be engaged by some portion of the seat of the hopper,or an extension thereof to be operated as in the manner shown, forinstance, in my Patent No. 745,724, dated December 1, 1903.

The upper end of the rod 25 is supported and guided in a tube 26 securedin the bottom of the flush tank.

In operation it will be understood that when the outer end of the lever20 is moved upwardly by means of the rod 25, the inner end thereof movesdownwardly and the roller 23 of the extension 22 passes over the camprojection 16 of the arm 9 of the angular lever, without occasioningmovement of the same. This is due to the fapt that the extension 22moves upwardly with respect to the lever 20 about the pivotal connectionbetween the said extension and the said lever.

As soon as the inner end portion of the le ver 20 has moved downwardlysufficiently the extension 22 again assumes a position in a line withthe lever 20 underneath the projection 16.

As the outer end portion of the lever 20 moves downwardly and the innerportion thereof moves upwardly under the influence of the weight of therod 25, it is obvious that the roller 23 upon the extreme outer end ofthe extension 22 would ride upward over the face of the cam projectionor portion 16 until it reached the normal position shown in Figure II,and that in moving to this position it would occasion a tilting movementof the angular lever consisting of the arms 9 and 10 about its pivot orhinge, and would occasion movement of the valve to open the ort leadingfrom the flush tank into the ush plpe.

As soon as the roller has passed over the cam projection or portion 16,the lever as sumes its normal position indicated in Figure II and thevalve 15 immediately closes the port in the flush tank. The closing ofthis port does not take place, however, until sufficient water has begunto flow outward from the tank through the flush pipe to occasion orefiect siphonic action of the siphon.

By reason of the presence of the weight 13 upon the extreme outer end ofthe arm 10 of the lever which serves as a counterweight, it requires butvery small eifort to move the angular lever to lift the valve 15 fromits seat.

Although I have shown the lever 20 as being provided with an extension22, the latter being adapted to engage with the cam projection 16 and tooccasion the movement of the angular lever carrying the valve only whenit moves upwardly, it is to be under stood that a lever may be employedwithout a hinged extension, in which case the inner end thereofcontacting with the said cam projection or portion would occasionmovement of the valve carrying lever by both its upward and its downwardmovements, thereby occasioning two flushing actions of the apparatus bya movement of the lever from its highest position (illustrated in thedrawings) to its lowest position and then back to its highest position.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A flush ta-nk providedwith a port, a siphon located in the said tank, and means for openingand closing the said port, the said means comprising a pivoted leverwhich is provided with a cam projection, a valve secured to the saidlever and being movable with the said lever to open and close the saidport, and a lever adapted to contact with and travel over the said camprojection.

2. A flush tank provided with a port, an angular lever located in thesaid tank, one portion of which lever is pivotally secured to a suitablesupport and the other portion of which is provided with a camprojection, a

valve secured to the said lever and adapted;

to close the said port, and a pivoted lever having one of its endsadapted to contact with and to travel over the said cam projection.

3. A flush tank provided with a port, a lever comprising two armsarranged at an angle to each other, one of the said arms being pivotallysecured upon a suitable support within the said tank and the other ofsaid arms extending upwardly toward the top of said tank and beingprovided at its up er end with a cam projection, a valve secure to thesaid lever, and a pivoted lever having one of its ends adapted tocontact with and travel over the said cam projection.

4. A flush tank provided with a port, a lever consisting of two partsarranged at an angle to each other, one of which is pivotally securedupon a suitable support within the said tank and which part has a weightat its extreme end to counterbalance the weight of the said lever, andthe other of which parts is provided with a cam projection, a valvesecured to the said lever, and a movable lever having one of its endsadapted to contact with and travel over the said cam projection.

5. A flush tank provided with a port, a lever consisting of two armsarranged at an angle to each other, one of the said arms occupying asubstantially horizontal position within the said tank and beingpivotally secured upon a suitable support, and the said arm beingextended beyond its point of support and provided with a weight, theother of the said arms extending upwardly toward the top of the tank andbeing provided with a cam rojection, a valve supported upon the Isairflever and adapted to close the said port, and a movable lever having oneend adapted to contact with and travel over the said cam projection.

'6. In an apparatus of the character described, a flush tank having aport, a siphon having communication with the flushpipe leading from thetank, a supporting arm secured to the said siphon, a lever comprisingtwo arms arranged at an angle to each other, one of the said arms beingpivotally secured upon the supporting arm and extended beyond itspivoted point, the extended portion thereof being provided with aweight, and the other arm of the said lever extending upwardly towardthe top of the flush tank and being provided with a cam, a valveivotally secured upon the said lever and a apted to close the said port,and a pivoted lever having one end adapted to contact With and travelover the said cam.

7. An apparatusof the character described,

a flush tank provided with a port, and a siphonsecured within the saidtank and being in communication with a flush pipe, a siphon breakingdevice connected to the said siphon, a lever comprising two armsarranged at an angle to each other, one of the said arms being pivotallysecured upon a suitable support WILLIAM U. GRIFFITHS.

In presence of Tlrosv K. LANCASTER, LAURA KLEINFELDER.

